Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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COOLING AND HEATING AIR JET DEVICE IN
BUILDING INTERIOR OR EXTERIOR STRUCTURE
This invention relates to a cooling and heating air
jet device provided on a building interior or exterior
structure such as a curtain wall, room partition or the
like, for example, and more particularly, a cooling and
heating air jet device provided on a framework including
vertical and horizontal hollow shaped wall support members
(the members will be simply referred to as "vertical member"
and"horizontal member", respectively, hereinbelow) of the
curtaln wall, room partition or the like.
Heretofore, a cooling and heating air jet device
provided on a framework including vertical and horizontal
hollow shaped members of the curtain wall has been known,
as shown, for example, in U.K. Patent No. 2,023,277
(by the inventor herewith). The air jet device
of this U.K. Patent includes the framework of
hollow vertical and horizontal wall support members through
which cooling or heating water is circulated. An air duct
comprising a framework of hollow vertical and horizontal
members is positioned parallel to, and in contact with, the
framework of wall support members for heat exchanging with
the same. A series of air jet openings is provided in the
horizontal member for cooling or heating the interior of
the building.
In this air jet device, however, as the same sized
air jet openings are provided along the horizontal member of
the air duct and the air jet is directly spouted from the
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air duct, the discharge of the air is not distributed
uniformly in the longitudinal direction of the horizontal
member. For example, if air is supplied through the hori-
zontal member from one end thereof toward the other end of
the same, the discharge of the air is maximum at one end,
but it is minimum at the other end. If air is supplied
through the horizontal member from both ends thereof as
shown in Fig. 5, the discharge of air is maximum at both
ends, but minimum in the central area as shown by line A in
Fig. 5, Therefore, uniform cooling or heating of the room
alon~ the air duct cannot be effected in this known air jet
deyice.
Therefore, one object of the present invention is to
provide an air jet device which can exhibit uniform cooling
or heating of the room along the length of the air duct.
Another object of the pxesent invention is to provide
an air jet device as aforementioned and such that the
discharge of the air from the air duct can be controlled.
Another object of the present invention is to provide
an air jet device as aforementioned and such that the spout
out direction of the air jet from the duct can be controlled.
Another object of the present invention is to provide
an air jet device as aforementioned and wherein the con-
struction and operation is simple.
The present invention may be summarized as an air jet
device in a building interior or exterior structure includ-
ing a framework of hollow vertical and horizontal wall
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support members, the framework of wall support members form-
ing an air duct through which cooling or heati~g air is
passed, a selected one of the wall support members being
formed with a plurality of air jet openings spaced in the
longitudinal direction of the same, the hollow interior of
the selected wall support member being divided into two
adjacent and parallel chambers by a partition wall having a
plurality of communication holes spaced in the longitudinal
direction of the same, one of the chambers forming a part
10 O~ the air duct and a first pressure equalizing chamber and `
the other of the chambers forming a second pressure equaliz-
ing chamber, and the plurality of air jet openings being
formed in the side wall of the second pressure equalizing
chamber.
With the above-mentioned construction and arrangement
of the components, when an adjusted air is supplied through
the selected one wall support member, the adjusted air is
first supplied to the first pressure equalizing chamber
where the pressure distribution of the air is slightly
equalized, then the pressure-equalized air is passed through
the communication holes in the partition wall into the
second pressure equalizing chamber and then spouted through
the air jet openings in the second pressure equalizing
chamber whereby the pressure distribution in the air is `
further equalized to improve cooling or heating efficiency.
The above and other objects and attendant advantages
of the present invention will be more readily apparent to
those skilled in the art from a reading of the following
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detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings which show one preferred embodiment of the inven-
tion for illustration purposes only, but not to limit the
scope of same in any way.
Fig. 1 is a schematic front elevational view of a
curtain wall having the device of the invention incorporated
therein as seen from the interior side thereof;
Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of the
curtain wall as seen from the interior side thereof showing
the air jet openings;
Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line
III-III of Fig. l;
Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line
IV-IV of Fig. l; and
Fig. 5 is a graph showing the pressure distribution
along the horizontal member in the device of the present
invention together with that of the prior art for purposes
of comparlson.
Figs. 1 through 4 show the cooling and heating air
jet device of the invention as being provided on a curtaln
wall which constitutes a building exterior wall. The cur-
tain wall comprises a plurality of identical curtain wall
units each including vertical and horizontal hollow wall
support members 1 and 2,2', connected together to provide a
framework for supporting members such as adiabatic panels 3
and pair glass sheets 4 on the outside of the framework.
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The curtain wall units are secured to the support portion
of the building by means of fasteners or the like. In Fig.
1, reference numerals 5 and 6 denote the floor and ceiling
boards of the building, respectively.
Each of the vertical and horizontal members 1 and 2,
2' is provided in the hollow interior thereof with an air
flow passage 7 to provide an air duct and a heat medium flow
passage 8 the latter of which is optional. These passages
7 and 8 may be formed integrally or separately. As shown by
the broken arrows in Fig. 1, clean air, the temperature and
moisture of which has been adjusted, is introduced into the
air flow passages 7 a~d a portion of the air is passed
within the hollow intermediate horizontal member 2' provided-
in the intermediate position between the floor board 5 and
the ceiling board 6 and is spouted through air jet openings
9 formed in the intermediate horizontal member into the
interior of the room to thereby effect direct cooling and
heating of the room. In Fig. 1, reference numeral 10
denotes a cylindrical expansible joint for communicating
between the adjacent vertical members 1 in each curtain wall
unit.
On the other hand, a heat medium such as cool water
or warm water at a suitable temperature is supplied into the
heat medium flow passages 8 to provide a cooling or heating
effect to the air flow within passage 7 by the radiation
heat of the medium. That is, the heat medium supplied from
a supply conduit 11 is cycled through the passages 8 formed
within the vertical and horizontal members 1, 2 and 2' as
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shown by the solid lines in Fig. 1 and returned to a return
conduit 12.
- Fig. 3 shows the details of the arrangement of Fig. 1
along the line III~III of Fig. 1 and it will be seen that a
first chamber 13, as a portion of the air duct and a first
pressure equalizing chamber, and a second chamber, as a
second pressure equalizing chamber 14, are formed in adja-
cent and parallel relationship to each other by a partition
wall 16 within the interior of the intermediate horizontal
member 2~ and in the illustxated embodiment, an additional
heat medium flow passage 8 is provided at the room side in
the first chamber. The first chamber 13 is in communication
with an opening 15 in the side wall of the air flow passage
7 in the associated vertical member 1 and a portion of the
adjusted air supplied to the vertical member 1 is passed
through the opening 15 into the first chamber 13 in the
horizontal member 2',
The partition wall 16 which separates the first and
second chambers 13, 14 from each other is provided with a
plurality of communication holes 17 spaced in the longitu-
dinal direction of the wall whereby the pressure distritu-
tion in the adjusted air is first slightl~ equalized in the
first pressure equalizing chamber 13 due to the existence of
pressure within the chamber 14 and the air is further passed
through the communications holes 17 in the partition wall 16
into the second pressure equalizing chamber 14 from where
the air is spouted in a substantially uniform pressure
distribution through the air jet openings 9 in the side wall
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of the second pressure equalizing chamber 14 (the upper side
wall as seen in Fig. 3). That is, if the first and
second pressure equalizing chambers 13, 14 are not provided
and air is instead directly spouted through openings 9 from
the hollow interior of the intermediate horizontal member
2', the pressure of the air is not distributed uniformly in
the longitudinal direction of the horizontal member 2' as .
shown by line A in Fig. 5 and thus, there is the problem `
that uniform cooling and heating along the horizontal member
2' cannot be effected~ However, the device of the present
invention solves the problem and the pressure of the spouted
air is uniformly distributed as shown by line B in Fig. 5. ~r'
The opening area of the communication holes 17 communicating
between the first and second pressure equalizing chambers ~.
13, 14 is determined by the amount of air required in the
room and other factors. j~
A cylindrical member having a plurality of openings t`;.
spaced in the longit~d;n~l direction thereof is rotatably
provided in each of the associated air jet openings 9 and
20 as the cylindrical member rotates, the orientation of the ~r`
openings in the member is varied to thereby adjust the
direction of the air jet spouted through the air jet open~
ings 9~ In Figs. 2 and 3, reference numeral 18 denotes an -~t
air amount adjustment board movable upwardly and downwardly
along the associated vertical member 1 and by manipulating
the board 18, the opening area of the above-mentioned open- ;
ing 15 in the vertical member 1 is adjusted to thereby
adjust the amount of the adjusted air to be supplied to the
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first pressure equalizing chamber 1 in the intermediate
horizontal member 2'.
In order not to damage the heat insulating system of
the curtain wall, at the time of the attachment of the
intermediate horizontal member 2', adiabatic panel 3 and
pair glass sheet 4, the intermediate horizontal member 2' as
an indoor member and a holding edge member 19 as an outdoor
member are connected together by means of a screw 21 with an
adiabatic block 20 interposed therebetween.
Fig, 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line
IV-IV of Fig. 1 and as shown in this Figure, a plurality of
adiabatic packing bands 22 are interposed in the joint
between the adjacent curtain wall units of the curtain wall
on both the interior and exterior sides of the ^urtain wall ,^
unit in order to assure heat insulation between the interior
and exterior sides of the curtain wall.
Although description has been made of the case in
which the air jet device is provided on the intermediate
horizontal member 2' of the framework of wall support
members in the unit type curtain wall, the description is
equally applicable to an indoor partition and the like.
Although the air jet device is preferably provided in the - ~.
intermediate position between the floor board and the ceil-
ing board from the view point of the efficiency of cooling
and heating, the device can be also provided on the vertical
or horizontal member in any other position.
